DOCUMENT: Crime

Teens Arraigned For Elderly Abuse

Duo allegedly spanked, groped addled Minnesota nursing home residents

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Teens Arraigned For Elderly Abuse

JANUARY 22--Meet Brianna Broitzman and Ashton Larson.

The Minnesota women, both 19, were arraigned yesterday on charges that they sexually humiliated, spanked, groped, and spat on nursing home residents suffering from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

According to criminal complaints, Broitzman and Larson engaged in a variety of cruel behavior while employed part-time at the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Albert Lea, a city in southern Minnesota.

Broitzman (top) and Larson are pictured in mug shots taken yesterday by the Freeborn County Sheriff's Office. Investigators allege that Broitzman poked one resident's breasts, spit into the mouth of another elderly person, and 'put her bare butt' in the face of a Good Samaritan resident.

For her part, Larson allegedly once 'inserted her finger into a resident's rectum' and spit water on another 'vulnerable adult.' She also has been accused of bathing a male resident in a deliberately rough manner so the elderly man would get an erection.

Four other teenagers--who were minors when the nursing home abuse allegedly occurred--have been charged in Juvenile Court.

Broitzman, charged with 11 criminal counts, and Larson, charged with 10 counts, face a maximum of a year in jail on each of the misdemeanor raps. (9 pages)